James Taranto, in his WSJ Blog, “Best of the Web Today”, discusses an interesting example of service journalism about ObamaCare, which appeared in July on the op-ed pages of the Washington Times. It was written by Dean Clancy of FreedomWorks, a national Tea Party group, and it explained how to avoid the ObamaCare mandate tax:
Under Section 1501 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, we’re required to certify on our yearly tax return whether we have “acceptable” coverage. However, the Internal Revenue Service is forbidden to use any penalty to enforce the mandate, except for a user-fee payment, which the IRS can only collect at the end of the year out of any tax refund we may be owed. This means we can simply sidestep the fee by carefully adjusting our withholdings to avoid being owed a refund. As for the amount, it’s comparatively small: in 2014, just $95, or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater, rising to $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016 and thereafter. It’s a pittance compared to the cost of compliance.
The op-ed was part of FreedomWorks’ campaign called (as was the op-ed) “Burn Your ObamaCare Card.”
So, for taxpayers not entitled to a refund, and who don’t need or want insurance, this is your strategy!
MWR
